The Killers (film)

• Release Date: 1964
• Director(s): Don Siegel
• Writer(s): Gene L. Coon
• Principal Actors and Roles: Angie Dickinson (Sheila Farr); Lee Marvin (Charlie Strom); John Cassavetes (Johnny North); Clu Gulager (Lee); Ronald Reagan (Jack Browning)
• Book / Story Film Based On: The Killers by Ernest Hemingway

The Killers is an American film noir that was adapted from a short story written by Ernest Hemingway in 1927. The screenplay expands the short story in which two hit men go to a small town to kill another man, Pete Lund, "the Swede." Burt Lancaster, a virtually unknown actor, premiered in the film as the Swede, a role that launched career. Ava Gardner also made her debut in the film, starring as Kitty Collins, the femme fatale and woman who leads Swede to his fate. Gardner established herself as a sex symbol in this role.

The term film noir was not established until the 1950s but was created to distinguish a particular type of gangster movie that had unusual visual effects and structure but used basic sets and a story line in which the hero or any other character succeeds or wins. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards but did not win in any category. Many consider The Killers to be one of the greatest classic examples of film noir in the 1940s.

Plot

The film opens with two hit men driving into a small town in New Jersey. They are searching for a gas attendant named Pete "Swede" Lund. They ask a customer where they can find him. They learn where Swede’s boardinghouse is, find him waiting for them (and already resigned to his fate), and shoot him dead.

After Swede’s death, an insurance agent, James Riordan, visits the town to find out what led to Swede’s murder. Since Swede had a life insurance policy and was killed, Riordan is suspicious of foul play. Swede’s beneficiary is a cleaning lady named Queenie in Atlantic City. Riordan learns that Queenie stopped Swede from killing himself several years ago, which is why he made her his beneficiary. Other details about Swede’s life are revealed through Riordan’s investigation and his discussion with Sam Lubinksy, the police officer who arrested Swede: his real name was Ole Anderson, he was a boxer who was forced into retirement because of an injury to his right hand, he served prison time for robbery, and he became smitten with a singer named Kitty Collins (for whom he almost committed suicide). After Swede met Kitty in Philadelphia, he left his girlfriend to start a romance with Kitty.

At Swede’s funeral, Riordan meets Charleston, a man with whom Swede shared a jail cell for two years. Charleston tells Riordan about a plan that he pulled out of (but that Swede was part of) that involved a payroll heist at a hat company. Riordan learns from Lubinsky that Blinky, one of the guys involved in the heist, has been shot but is still alive. The two men talk with Blinky, who tells them that the meeting place after the robbery was changed, Swede said he was cheated, and then Swede left with all of the money.

Riordan decides to go back to the boardinghouse where Swede was living before his murder. He sees that Dum Dum, another man who was involved in the hat company robbery, is renting the same room Swede had. Riordan confronts Dum Dum, asking for more information about the heist. Dum Dum tells him that Swede left with Kitty and that Kitty has the money from the robbery.

From the interviews and information he has gathered, Riordan believes that Kitty and "Big Jim" Colfax (Kitty’s boyfriend and heist leader) were involved in Swede’s murder. When Riordan asks Colfax about Swede, he denies knowing anything. Riordan then meets with Kitty and she tells him that she and Swede left for Atlantic City after the heist because she convinced him the other guys involved in the heist were double-crossing him. She claims she left Swede with the money. Kitty begs Riordan to leave her alone as she is married now and has a new life.

Riordan figures out that Kitty is married to Colfax. When he goes to Colfax’s house, he finds that Dum Dum has been killed and Colfax is wounded. He learns that Kitty and Colfax had double-crossed Swede and took off with the money from the hat shop heist but made it look like Swede had double-crossed them and the other thugs in the heist. As Colfax dies from his wounds, he admits to his role in Swede’s murder.

Significance

The Killers was made just after World War II ended and the Nazis were defeated. Director Robert Siodmak was German and fled from Germany to France in 1939, then later to the United States, after he learned Nazi soldiers were on the lookout for him. The Killers was his not his first film noir but possibly his best and most popular at the box office. Siodmak was a master of his art and brought to his film noir a terror and violence that came right out of Nazi Germany. He did return to his homeland, but not until the mid-1950s.

The opening scene in the film is classic gangster film noir. It’s dark, and it involves two hit men in a car in a small town. It leads to a murder of the hero, who seems accepting of his fate. Through a series of eleven flashbacks, the audience learns about the ex-boxer and late gas station attendant Swede and the events that led to his murder. In the film, Siodmak uses many elements of classic film noir, including double-crossing, nightclub and bar scenes, mise en scène, expressionist lighting, shadows, repetitive, panoramic, and close shots, and slanted and low angles to create mood.

Making The Killers was a major challenge in that Hemingway’s short story took place in one day. To create a feature-length film the screenwriters expanded the story to take place over six years. The film’s dialogue is broken up to tell the story through the past and present. These segments also provide visual clues—the green scarf, Swede’s black-and-blue hand, the stolen brooch—to the mystery behind Swede’s death. Siodmak’s overall direction and Elwood Bredell’s cinematographic skills created a dark drama and thriller that enhanced the genre of film noir.

A color remake of The Killers was produced in 1964, but it was not as widely praised. The effect achieved from shooting in black-and-white in the original film better suited the style of film noir.

Bibliography

Anastasia, George, and Glen Macnow. The Ultimate Book of the Gangster Movies. Philadelphia: Perseus, 2011. Print.

Hillier, Jim, and Alastair Phillips. 100 Film Noirs. London: Palgrave, 2009. Print.

Hogan, David J. Film Noir FAQ: All That’s Left to Know About Hollywood’s Golden Age of Dames. Milwaukee: Applause, 2013. Print.

Mayer, Geoff, and Brian McDonnell. Encyclopedia of Film Noir. Westport: Greenwood, 2007. Print.

Palmer, R. Barton, ed. Twentieth-Century American Fiction on Screen. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2007. Print.

Phillips, Gene D. Out of the Shadows: Expanding the Canon of Classic Film Noir. Plymouth: Scarecrow, 2012. Print.

Wager, Jans B. Dames in the Driver’s Seat: Rereading Film Noir. Austin: UP of Texas, 2009. Print.